Fire and Wind
by Angel Winter
Summary: Series of RoWen one-shots.
1. Chapter 1: Kitty Cat

**A new RoWen one-shot series! Like my PJ&O one! Why? Because I feel like it. Read and Review if you want me to write more to this!**

* * *

"No."

"Aw, come on!"

"No, Romeo."

"It'll be really cute."

"I don't care!"

"Please?"

"….Ugh. Fine."

"Yes!"

Wendy hesitated, then took the cat ears from her boyfriend-of-two-year's hands. Frowning at the dark-haired mage the whole time, she put the ears on her head, curled her hands like cat claws in front of her, and said, "N-Nyaaa~!"

"See! You're adorable!" He leaned in like he was going to kiss her.

Wendy quickly plopped the cat ears onto his head and shoved him back. "Your turn."

At this, the entire guild (who'd been watching this whole thing go down) burst into laughter.

* * *

**Look down. Click the button. You know you wanna. :D**


	2. Chapter 2: Beautiful?

**Inspired by the song "What Makes You Beautiful"! Hope ya like it!**

* * *

Wendy never thought she was beautiful.

When she was little, of course, beauty hadn't mattered because she had her dragon, and then her guild, and, in her mind, who really needed looks to be happy?

When she was twelve and joined Fairy Tail, she saw so many gorgeous women there that the next thought she had concerning her beauty was that she'd never be able to be as pretty as them.

And then, after the timeskip, when she met Romeo, her future boyfriend, the need to be beautiful intensified to the maximum. Because, in her mind, she was plain. She was just barely thirteen- she didn't have a figure, she still held a bit of her baby fat, and her hair was dead straight. No cute curls _whatsoever_.

So she did the logical thing a girl who is desperately craving a boy and beauty did- raided her best friend's closet for something close to 'okay' to wear. Tonight was special. Tonight was the night the guild finally had enough money to throw a small party to celebrate getting said money. They were setting up lights and getting out tablecloths and actually trying to maintain some normal peace so the party money wasn't wasted on replacing broken tables and chairs…again.

Tonight was special to Wendy, though, because tonight was the night she was going to force herself to be at least _close _to beautiful.

* * *

"Do you think I can fit into this?"

Lucy looked up from her novel to glance at the dress Wendy had pulled from the closet. It was a sparkly, strapless black dress that just reached the knees. Lucy got a strange expression on her face as she looked between the dress and the Dragon Slayer. After a minute, she finally said, "I think it may be…a little to adult for you, Wendy."

"Oh." Wendy frowned and put the dress back on its hanger. She scanned the remaining dresses- two. She'd spent the past two hours here tearing apart Lucy's closet for something she could wear. But everything she picked was too adult for her, apparently. Lord, why didn't Lucy have _normal _clothes? Sighing, she plucked another off the hanger and held it up. "This one, maybe?"

Lucy looked up again. "Nah, I think that's too big for you."

Wendy bit back an irritated sigh as she put the dress back up. At this rate, she was going to be stuck plain. And how would Romeo ever notice her then? At the thought of the dark-haired boy, her cheeks reddened a bit. She quickly grabbed the other dress before Lucy could question her about her blush. "How about this one, Lucy-san?"

This time, Lucy smiled. "I think that might work."

* * *

Wendy felt like her dress was trying to prevent her from breathing. It was pretty- she had to give it that. It was a light turquoise with light sparkles around it. It ended a little below her knees, which made it appropriate for the young girl, and had a sort of lace bluish train coming out of the back. But it was so _tight_. And the more she thought of it being tight, the more she dwelled on whether it was really pretty enough to be worth it. Did it really make her beautiful? She stared down at herself for a minute, unsure.

"Wendy! C'mon!" Lucy called from the guild doors.

"Coming!" Wendy said back and made her way towards the door, hoping she didn't waddle like a duck due to her impossibly high heels that added five extra inches to her height. How were these shoes-slash-death traps appropriate, but the black dress wasn't? Wendy just couldn't understand it.

Finally she made it to the doors. Peeking her head in, she felt her face light up excitedly. Streamers were hung everywhere in all colors and the tables had fancy white tablecloths on them. A stage was set up for Mira (and hopefully not Gajeel) to sing, and a whole table was set with refreshments that made Wendy's mouth water a little. Mira's cooking was the best…

But then she remembered with how tight this dress was, she wouldn't be able to eat anything. Any added fat and she'd burst. So, with a disappointed sigh, Wendy carefully made her way to one of the tables. As she walked, she scanned the crowd. All the guild members were there, all smiling and laughing. She smiled at how happy everyone seemed…but she had one person on her mind to find.

Then her eyes landed on him- there, sitting at the highly-decorated bar with Natsu and Gray. He was waving his hands animatedly, obviously very into their conversation. At the sight of his wide smile, Wendy felt her heartbeat falter a bit. Lately, seeing him smile did that to her. It made her feel all jittery, like she should run and stay at the same time. She always ended up blushing furiously though when she recognized what those feelings meant:

Wendy had a serious crush on Romeo Conbolt.

For a second, she considered "casually" wandering over to talk, too. But then she remembered she was a terrible actress. There was no way she could pull of a supposedly casual walk-and-enter-conversation without stuttering like an idiot. Plus she still couldn't walk very well in these shoes. So, instead, she sat down at the table she was leaning against and plopped her head into her hands with a sigh.

At this rate, she was never going to get Romeo to notice her.

Especially not with Lucy and Cana and Mira and Erza and…well, the list was endless. She was too unnoticeable, too plain, against all these other girls, even in her dress and heels. In fact, as she pondered her dress yet again, she realized she didn't feel beautiful in it at all. She felt like a suffocating, stumbling bluebird.

God, she was hopeless, wasn't she?

Wendy sighed again, feeling the hope she'd mustered at Lucy's house shatter. How in the world did she plan to stand out against all these other girls?

Suddenly she realized Mira was singing. And the song happened to be her favorite of the pretty barmaid's selection. She smiled a little at that…then felt the smile fall as she saw Romeo getting up and pushing through the crowd. He was probably going to ask Kinana to dance, like the day Lucy was trying to teach Natsu. And she was going to have to sit here and watch it. Because who was really going to ask her to dance?

Wendy sighed for a third time.

"Hey, Wendy."

Wendy almost fell out of her seat at the sound of his voice. Her head snapped in his direction, looking up at him with a sort of stunned look on her face. He was giving her that smile, that one that made her feel funny. After a second, she finally managed to stutter, "H-Hi, Romeo." Then she cursed herself for stammering. How much of an idiot could she be?

"What are you doing sitting all by yourself over here? Shouldn't you be dancing?"

Wendy's face flushed embarrassedly and she looked down at her hands. "No one's asked me to dance."

Then she saw Romeo hold out his hand to her out of her peripheral vision. Her heart stopped for a second as he said, "Well, then, why don't we dance?"

"You and me?" she blurted.

Romeo frowned a little. "There's nothing wrong with that, right?"

"Oh, no! Of course not!" _You dummy, you sounded to eager!_ "I-I'd love to dance, but…" And she gestured to her shoes, all the while keeping her eyes locked on the floor as a blush crept across her face.

"Take them off, then."

"Eh?"

Romeo smiled again. "Come on. It's just the guild. They won't care if you're barefoot. I think they'd care more if you tripped."

Wendy stammered, "I-I just…don't f-feel pretty without them…" _Why would you tell him that? _she screamed at herself mentally. _Why?_

"Aw, come on, Wendy. You don't need shoes to make you beautiful."

Wendy completely froze for a second at the boy's words. _You don't need to shoes to make you beautiful…don't need…to make you beautiful…_

And then an ecstatic grin spread across her face. Beaming up at him, she pulled the heels from her feet and took Romeo's hand. "I'd love to dance."

In that moment, as he led her off into the crowd of dancing couples, Wendy knew for certain that she could seriously fall for the boy who mistook her for beautiful.


	3. Chapter 3: Painting

**These two are just the cutest couple EVER. Read and Review if you agree, pretty please! :D**

* * *

"Romeo! Look!"

Romeo looked up from the request board and towards the sound of Wendy's voice. She was sitting at one of the tables, Reedus sitting beside her. They each held a canvas and paintbrushes. She was grinning and gesturing for him to come over to her. He fought back a grin at the smears of blue paint on her cheeks as he came to the table.

"What is it, Wendy?"

"Reedus is giving me painting lessons!" she said excitedly. "I finished my first painting! Wanna see?"

Romeo actually had to be heading out to meet a couple of friends from school. But he couldn't say no to how happy she was. "Sure. What did you paint?"

"This!" And she turned the canvas towards him.

Romeo tried to keep a smile on his face and not a confused frown. Instead of a clear picture, all he saw was smears of blue, yellow, and black. "U-Um….that's a beautiful…." He trailed off, unsure of what the colors were.

Wendy's smile turned into a frown. "A bluebird," she said. "It's a bluebird."

"Ah!" Romeo forced a smile. "I knew it!"

Wendy's frown deepened. "You're lying," she accused.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are." She put down the canvas and crossed her arms. "You had no idea what it was. You thought it wasn't good."

"No, it was very good for a beginner."

Wendy sniffed. "Hmph. Well, then."

Romeo scrambled around frantically in his head for something to say that would be right. He caught Reedus grinning at him over Wendy's head and glared at him. "I-I didn't mean to make you upset…" he tried.

Wendy just turned back to her canvas, picked up her paintbrush, and starting adding more blue to the painting.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Then Wendy turned and poked him in the cheek with the bristle-end of her paintbrush, leaving a big blue dot on his skin. She grinned. "There. Now I feel better."

"Why, you…" He snatched up another paintbrush off the table and dabbed it onto Wendy's nose, turning the tip of her nose pink.

"Hey!" And she started to paint him blue some more, but he danced out of her way.

"Come and get me!" he challenged, grinning.

Wendy got up, wielding her paintbrush like a sword as she leaped after him. He ducked and the brush went right over his head. He backed up and she said, "Romeo!"

"Too slow!" he taunted.

Wendy made a growling sound and lunged for him again. He dodged again.

By this point, guild members were picking sides, yelling either "Go Wendy!" or "Go Romeo!" Cana had even already started taking bets on who would paint the other first. Wendy and Romeo ignored them all, though, their sole purpose now to get the other.

Romeo swiped at Wendy with his brush, but she stepped back, avoiding the pink paint, and stuck her tongue out him. "Now who's too slow?" she said, raising an eyebrow mischievously.

Romeo grinned back at her. "I'll get you, Wendy Marvell."

"I'd love to see you try, Romeo Conbolt," she retorted.

Romeo's grin seemed to widen at her confidence, which had started to emerge around the time of her fourteenth birthday a few months ago. They went on with their little game for a while, lunging, swiping, ducking, laughing…until, suddenly, Romeo tripped.

"Gaah!" He went sprawling onto the floor, his paintbrush rolling under a chair. He quickly turned over onto his back, but Wendy was already there, sitting on his belly and laughing.

"I win!" she cheered.

"Not fair!" Romeo whined, but she ignored him and reached down, doodling on his face with blue paint.

"I'll give you a butterfly…and a heart…and a flower," she told him, smiling as she painted on him.

"Wendy," he whined, squirming underneath her, but he was smiling, too.

"Son, you can't lose to a girl!" yelled Macao above the roaring laughter of the other guild members.

"But he can lose to his girlfriend!" Wendy shouted back, then said, "Ooh! I'll also paint a smiley face…"

Suddenly, Romeo reached up and snatched the brush out of her hand. With a shout from Wendy, he flipped over until he was sitting on her instead. "Now I win," he said, flashing her a grin.

"Romeo! You're heavy!" she complained.

"And now you're blue." And he started painting on her face, too. In blue paint, he wrote ROMEO across her face.

"There," he said when he was finished and he stood up off of her. Offering her his hand, he grinned again and said, "Now everyone knows you're mine."

* * *

When Romeo finally left the guild to meet his friends, the very first thing they said when they saw him was, "Dude, why is there a blue flower on your face?"

"Wendy," he replied.

The other boys went quiet for a minute. Then one of them said, "You are _so _whipped, man."

Romeo just grinned. "I know."


	4. Chapter 4: Sapphire Dragon

**I know this kinda sucks, but I had sudden inspiration and I just had to write it. Hope ya like it! :D**

* * *

Romeo was on a mission. What mission, you may ask?

To kill the idiots who messed with his Dragon Slayer.

He stalked down the streets of Magnolia with such a look of fury that people gave him a lot of space for fear he'd hit them or something. But he wasn't looking for strangers. No, he was looking for his so-called school friends.

Why was he so mad? Because…

* * *

"Romeo!"

Romeo turned at the sound of her voice, already smiling…until he saw the tears. He was on his feet instantly and she jumped into his arms, burying her face in his shirt. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Natsu and Gajeel, her "brothers", already getting to their feet, but he gave them a look that said, "I'll handle this." Then he asked in a concerned voice, "What's wrong, Wen?"

"Th-They took it!" she cried.

"Who took what?" He pulled her back and put his thumb under her chin so she would look at him. "Wendy, who took what?"

She looked up at him with teary brown eyes and sniffled, "D-Daichi and Hisoka…cornered me on my w-way back from my job a-and started asking me w-why I would go out with you and not them. I-I told them I really liked you and they took my necklace…told me they'd give it back if I'd be one of theirs girl…."

By this point Romeo felt he could blow something up. He knew Daichi and Hisoka. They'd gone to school together since first grade. They'd also been the ones who made fun of Fairy Tail wizards when he was small…they'd always had it out for him when he'd told them his father took out nineteen vulcans and that all their dads could do was count money. But Wendy…she was off-limits in their spats. He'd make that clear to them.

Romeo led the still-sniffling Wendy over to Lucy, saying he'd be back in a bit. She had said, "Romeo, please don't do anything stupid…" But he'd just forced a smile and walked as calmly as he could out of the guild hall.

But once he hit the street, where Wendy couldn't see him, he was a raving mess. Demanding from strangers if they knew where his "friends" were, if they knew where they lived, where they might be. But no one seemed to know. So he was wandering now, and had been for the past hour, still furious.

Finally he found them. They were standing in some back alley on the outskirts of Magnolia, laughing at something. In one hand, Hisoka held a silver chain.

Wendy's necklace.

"Hey." His voice was surprisingly calm, giving off that eerie I'm-so-gonna-kill-you-but-in-my-own-time sorta vibe.

Hisoka and Daichi jumped at his voice and whirled towards him. Instantly Daichi started sneering, "Well, speak of the devil…it's the Salamander wannabe."

Romeo didn't even move. "Give me the necklace, Hisoka."

Hisoka grinned at him and shrugged, holding up the chain and dangling it between his forefinger and his thumb. "This thing? Can't. It belongs to a pretty little girl who'll soon be mine…"

Romeo's eyes flashed. "Give me the necklace or I'll take it."

"Oh, will you now? And how are you gonna-"

_Smack! Thud. _

Daichi fell onto the ground, his nose bleeding profusely. Romeo turned towards Hisoka, one fist still clenched, the other held out expectantly. "Give me the necklace," he repeated for the third time, this time through clenched teeth.

Hisoka's eyes were wide, but his fist tightened over the chain. "She'll be mine, wannabe, I swear. She'll just leave you in the dust."

"You don't know her," Romeo snarled. "Stop actin' like you do. You just treat her like a prize, something to win to get at me. But she's way more than that."

Hisoka sneered at him. "God, you are a sap. She's just a gir-"

_Smack! Thud._

He joined Daichi on the ground. Romeo glared at them for a second, then shook his head disgustedly. "Weak jerks," he muttered, before kneeling and prying the silver chain from Hisoka's hand. He held it up, inspecting it for damage. Then his eyes widened at the little pendant swinging from it.

A sapphire-eyed dragon.

This was the necklace he'd given Wendy when he'd first asked her out.

For a second, he just stared at it, remembering how upset she'd been at the guild. She'd been a wreck over losing this thing. And it really was just a cheap thing, with fake sapphires, because that was all he could afford at the time. Then he just started smiling. It got wider and wider until he thought his face would crack.

Man, he seriously loved that girl.

And, maybe, she loved him, too, considering how badly off she was when she lost the necklace. They'd never actually said they loved each other before. But, Romeo figured, actions were louder than words.

So, still grinning, he walked away from the unconscious bullies, cradling the necklace in the palms of his hands all the way back to the guild.

* * *

When he got back, Wendy had stopped crying. But when she saw him walk through the doors, proudly holding up the necklace, she burst into tears all over again. She leapt from her seat and flew across the room, throwing her arms around his neck and crushing her lips against his. He savored the kiss for a moment before she pulled back, all too soon.

Wendy stared in teary awe at the necklace. "You actually went and got it," she said softly, in almost a whisper.

"Of course." Romeo smiled. "No one messes with my Wendy and gets away with it." And he put the necklace back on her.

She beamed up at him. "Thank you, Romeo." And she kissed him again.


	5. Chapter 5: Her Fifteenth Birthday

**I hope you find this as cute as I did. :D**

* * *

"Romeo, is the blindfold really necessary?"

Romeo smiled at his blue-haired girlfriend, even though she couldn't see it past the cloth he'd tied around her eyes. "Yes, Wen. Don't you trust me?"

"I trust _you_. I _don't _trust the guild members not to run into me during a fight," she replied. "Are we going to the guild?"

"They won't hurt you," Romeo said, not really answering her.

"Not on purpose."

There was nothing he could say to that truth. So instead of replying, he took her hand and began to lead her down the busy streets of Magnolia, walking backwards so he could watch the adorably confused expression on her face. Glancing frequently over his shoulder to make sure he didn't run into someone, he led her up the hill to where the new guild was, guiding her past potholes and various other obstacles (mostly unconscious guild members).

"Romeo, where are you taking me?" she asked as he led her up the pathway to the front doors.

"You'll see. Now, I'm going to let go of your hand…don't you dare take off the blindfold."

Wendy sighed and started twirling her hair between her fingers, a cute habit of hers that just made him smile. So, grinning, he turned and knocked three times exactly on the door. Wendy heard him and asked, "Why are you knocking on a door? Where are we?"

"Be patient!" The door opened and Mirajane poked her head out. When she saw Wendy with the blindfold on and Romeo grinning, she started grinning, too. She opened the door wider and waved them inside. Romeo took Wendy's hand again and led her into the guild, where it was oddly quiet. Quiet enough that their footsteps echoed on the floor. It was sort of creepy.

"Are we there yet?" Wendy asked when Romeo stopped her again.

Romeo looked around at all the guild members crouched under tables and chairs, all excited, smothering gleeful giggles with their hands. "Yeah, Wendy. You can take the blindfold off now."

"Thank God." She reached up and untied the cloth from her eyes. As soon as it fell from her face, the entire guild burst out from their hiding places, some even overturning tables in their hurry to get up.

_"Surprise!" _the guild yelled in unison. _"Happy fifteenth birthday, Wendy!"_

* * *

Still holding the cloth, Wendy gaped at the guild members throwing confetti and wearing silly, cone-shaped party hats, some with little bits of cake icing already smeared on their cheeks. A feeling of happiness surged through her, and her eyes got a bit wet. She looked around at the people, a smile spreading across her face. Her eyes stopped on her boyfriend, who smiled just as widely as her.

"Happy birthday, Wen," he said.

"You…you all remembered," she whispered in almost disbelief.

"How could we forget?" Gajeel grumbled from somewhere in the back, shooting pointed glares at Mirajane and Romeo.

"How _would _we forget," Levy corrected, adjusting his pink party hat. He swatted her hands away irritably.

"Let's eat cake!" shouted Natsu.

"It looks like you already have, flame-brain," commented Gray, looking at the white icing on the salmon-haired teen's face.

"Wanna go, ice-boy?" Natsu roared.

"Don't fight on Wendy's birthday!" snapped Lucy.

Wendy started laughing. This was her home, her crazy family. People she wouldn't trade for anything in the world. Especially…

"Here, Wendy."

Wendy looked back to Romeo. He now held a small white box in his hands, a clumsily tied blue ribbon on the top. She smiled at him as she took the box from him. "Thanks, Romeo."

"Open it," he said.

Wendy untied the ribbon and lifted the lid from the box. At once she felt tears rise in her eyes again.

A little charm bracelet of the same silvery plastic as her necklace. Except hanging from the little loops was one single charm- a real silver charm of flames in the shape of a heart.

"I-I thought…so you could have, if you wanted, um, me and Grandeeny with you…" Romeo was stammering as she stared at the little charm. When she looked up and he saw the tears, the look on his face made it clear he was beginning to panic, because she wasn't supposed to cry on her birthday. She almost laughed.

"A-Are you okay?" he stuttered anxiously. "Why are you cry-"

She quieted his stammering with a quick kiss. When she pulled back, he was grinning again. She smiled at him. "This is the best gift ever," she whispered.

His grin widened.

"Get a room!" someone in the crowd shouted.

Wendy flushed bright red and Romeo started laughing. Before long, she was laughing, too. Then, she took his hand and dragged him into the crowd, fastening the bracelet on as she went in search of the cake so she could have a bit before the others ate it all.

But, with her hand in Romeo's, the guild roaring around her, and the bracelet on her wrist, she was certain that this was already the best birthday she'd ever had.


	6. Chapter 6: Scary Story

__**I hope a wrote a scary enough story for the first part...that's not really my area of expertise...:D Hope Ya like i**

* * *

_The closet was dark and cramped, forcing her to sit with her knees pulled against her chest. Her heart raced with wild terror, straining her ears for any sound._

_ Creak. Creak. Creak._

_ Footsteps coming down the hall, towards her. She swallowed, shrinking back into the darkness of the confined space. As the footsteps neared, she held her breath and held absolutely still, making no sound whatsoever. _

_ The footsteps were just outside the door, now. She stared at the tiny crack of light from underneath the door. It was so faint, indicating the hall was lit only by candles. It would be hard to see the blood on the doorknob in that light. If she stayed silent, she was safe. _

_ For now, at least._

_ Then it all went quiet. No more footsteps outside the door. But what made her heart stop was the fact that they'd stopped right outside the door. He was inspecting it. If he opened it, she was doomed. A frightened sob crept up her throat, but she pressed a hand against her lips, silencing the sound. Her heartbeat quickened to a point that was most definitely unhealthy, fear threatening to swallow her whole. What was he doing? Why couldn't he just keep walking? She squeezed her eyes closed tight, unable to make herself watch that fragile, flickering light anymore. Her lips moved against her sweaty palm in a silent prayer._

_ Then the door was ripped open, her terrified scream shattering the silence as he grinned wickedly, reaching for her-_

"Boo."

Wendy shrieked, dropping the horror novel to the ground. Her boyfriend burst into laughter at her adorably terrified expression.

"Romeo!" Wendy smacked him on the arm, not hard enough to hurt but enough to tell he'd just ticked her off. But he just kept laughing, so she stuck out her bottom lip in an irritated pout. "Romeo!" she said again. "That wasn't funny!"

"It kind of was," Romeo disagreed with a grin. Then he noticed the book on the floor. He reached down and picked it up, glancing at the cover. He raised his eyebrows at Wendy. "_The Deadly Sins_? Wen, do you know how creepy this book is?"

"Yes." She snatched it away from him, holding it close to her. "But it's really good, too. Levy-san loaned it to me."

Romeo shook his head, frowning. "You'll be having nightmares for weeks," he muttered.

"Then I guess you'll just have to calm me down," she replied, flashing him a smile.

Suddenly he wasn't so upset about her terrifying herself with the book.


	7. Chapter 7: A Dragon's Treasure

**Wendy goes all ninja on her! Hope ya like it! :D**

* * *

Wendy was ready to snap Mai's neck.

The little traitor had been following her to the guild after school for the past two weeks, and Wendy had thought it was because they were friends and she held an interest in magic. At least, that was what Mai had told her. So Wendy had shown her around the guild, introduced her to everybody, even invited her to sit at a table with her and Romeo…

Now, she realized why Mai had been coming. Not because they were friends. And she held no interest in magic and all that.

But she _did _hold a more than friendly interest in Wendy's boyfriend.

Wendy had had her first feeling of doubt in Mai's story the first day she had followed her to the guild, when Mai had practically dragged her to sit with Romeo. Wendy had thought that it was probably because she knew Romeo better than the other guild members. But then, three days later, Mai had discreetly given the compliment, "I _love _your scarf, Romeo!" Then Wendy had come in a little late and walked in to find Mai practically sitting in her boyfriend's lap, she was sitting so close to him.

Now she walked into the guild just in time to see Mai reach over, grab _Wendy's Romeo _by that oh-so-lovely scarf, and pull him towards her to press her lips to his. The guild went absolutely silent in a second as Wendy felt for the first time the feeling of a dragon's protectiveness.

Mai had kissed her boyfriend. _Her _boyfriend…oh, it was so on.

With a nearly inhuman roar, Wendy launched herself towards the pair, grabbing Mai by her long blonde hair and yanking her backwards, away from Romeo, and off her chair. She cried out as she fell, and Romeo sputtered, "W-Wendy…!" But the two girls were already locked in combat, pulling each other's hair, ripping at the other's clothes, screaming and spitting and hitting…

Then Wendy felt herself being lifted up, stilling flailing furiously at the blonde on the floor. Romeo had grabbed her, pulling her away from the fight, drawing her into the warm comfort of his arms. "I'll tear her to shreds!" shouted Wendy, but she let herself relax into his grip, no longer struggling against him.

Mai was on her feet now, looking disheveled and angry, her left eye swelling. "What is wrong with you, you freak?" screamed Mai, stomping her foot. "You nearly killed me!"

"He's mine!" Wendy yelled right back. "Don't you dare come near us again!" By the way Romeo's arms around her had tightened at the word "freak", she knew he was glaring at Mai just as viciously as Wendy was.

Suddenly Erza was there, looming threateningly over Mai. Mai looked up at her slowly, her good eye opening wide with intimidation. "I think you should leave," Erza said in a slow, dangerous voice.

Mai stood still for a second. Then she scowled and grumbled, "I didn't want to stay here anyway!" She glared again at Wendy and Romeo and stomped off towards the door.

As she walked out, Wendy heard Natsu yell, "And good riddance, brat!"

Wendy cracked a small smile.

Then everyone's eyes turned to Wendy, the pacifist of the guild, who'd just beaten the crap out of a girl for messing with her boyfriend. Wendy ignored them, though, despite the embarrassed flush on her cheeks. She snuggled farther into Romeo's arms.

Suddenly, Gajeel shouted, "Well, dang, girl! I didn't know you had it in you!"

And then the guild was roaring again.

Wendy smiled a little again, looking up at Romeo, who smiled back down at her. "She was a brat," Romeo informed her.

Wendy shrugged. "I could call her worse…"

Romeo looked appalled. "What is my sweet Wendy turning into?" he exclaimed, and she laughed.

"You never, ever mess with a dragon's treasure," she told him, smiling.


	8. Chapter 8: Point One For Him

**I sorta went back in time a little here. This is around the beginning of their developing relationship, when Romeo and Wendy were both still around thirteen and just starting to like each other. Hope ya like it! :D**

* * *

"Romeo~!"

The voice sent chills down the boy's spine because, even if she was an angel, when she held that voice, you could just _hear _her inner demon. So Romeo pretended to ignore her, hoping she'd lose interest in him (and his love life) and move on to Gajeel who sat not too far away from him. But no, she stood there, one hand on his shoulder to keep him from running, smiling so sweetly…_too _sweetly.

"Romeo," she sang again.

With a deep breath, he faced her, a smile forced onto his face. "Hey, Mira," he said in a voice he hoped held no fear. "What's up?"

The pretty barmaid shrugged, looking indifferent…to anyone who hadn't spent most of their childhood watching her play Cupid. Romeo knew that sparkle in her eye from watching years of her trying to make his dad find a real relationship, or trying to get Natsu to finally ask Lucy out. He almost shuddered when that sparkly-eyed look fell on him. "Nothing much," she replied after a minute. "Just cleaning up before going home. What are you doing here so late?"

Romeo shrugged back at her. If she could play dumb, so could he. "I don't know…lost track of time, I guess?"

"Oh? But I saw you looking at the clock only a minute ago. Quite nervously, I might add."

_Crap. _She saw that? He wanted to bang his head repeatedly against the counter for letting the demon-Mirajane catch him doing that, because that motion plus anxiousness plus the accidental catching of him staring at a pretty blue-haired girl led to one conclusion for that woman- he had a serious crush on Wendy Marvell. It was nearly ten at night, and his father had left on some date hours ago after telling his son to go ahead and go home. But Romeo had noticed Wendy staying behind chatting with Levy, noting that she had most definitely lost track of time and would be having a mild panic attack when she realized she'd have to be walking alone to Fairy Hills so late at night. He was waiting to be her sort of knight in shining armor. In other words, to walk her home safely.

Of course, he knew Mira had already put two-and-two together and figured that all out. That's why she was grinning so mischievously at him now. "I-I just realized how long I'd been here," Romeo stammered out in a lame excuse.

"Mm-hmm," Mirajane agreed. "Of course you did. Why don't you go ahead and go home then?"

Ah. She wasn't just merely making a comment, being reasonable. She was putting out a challenge. If he left, he proved her wrong and left Wendy walking home alone, since Carla had taken off somewhere with Happy, Lucy was gone to dinner or something with Erza, Natsu, and Gray, and Levy would surely be here a few more hours in the archives. If he stayed, he proved the demon right but saved Wendy from all that worrying of walking home alone at night.

Tough choice here.

So he saw only one solution.

"Yeah, you're probably right, Mira." He smiled at her shocked expression as he slid from the barstool and headed for the door. He waved goodbye over his shoulder. "See you tomorrow," he called, and then exited.

Mirajane frowned a little as she watched him leave, her gaze flickering in confusion between little Wendy and Romeo's retreating back. She was utterly baffled. She'd never been wrong about love before… "Hmph," she said, crossing her arms as she turned to walk into the back. "Maybe he doesn't like her after all…"

* * *

Wendy scrambled for the door, clutching her little handbag to her chest as she trembled. She was completely terrified of the dark, yet she'd been stupid enough to let the time get away from her and now she was walking home.

In the dark.

Alone.

Where was her overprotective cat when she needed her?

She braced herself for that familiar panicky, frantic heartbeat as she stepped through the doors and into the night, her mind torturing her with images of her getting killed by thugs or kidnapped off the dark streets never to be seen again…

"Wendy."

Wendy nearly screamed, whirling on her feet with her fists raised, ready to put up a fight (but probably not much of one) before she was taken. But then she realized it was only Romeo, coming up from around the side of the guild. She felt a relieved sigh escape her throat as she lowered her fist. "Romeo! What are you still doing here?" she asked, feeling relieved someone else was with her for the time being.

"I should be asking you that," he countered. "Aren't you afraid of the dark?"

The blue-haired girl blushed crimson. How on earth did he know that? "U-Uh, a little bit," she admitted, looking down at her feet. "I just forgot what time it was…"

"Well, how about I walk you home, then?"

Wendy looked up at him, eyes wide with shock. "Really?" she asked. "You would do that?"

Romeo smiled. "Of course. What else am I good for?" he joked, and she smiled, too.

"Thank you."

"No problem."

In his head:

_Point one of me. Zero for Mirajane. _


	9. Chapter 9: I'll Take Care of You

**Again, I did my own mini timeskip and this is right when Wendy and Romeo start to like each other. :D This was an idea given to me by AquaTitaniaMiyuki (I get that right?) Thanks for the idea! I made this one REALLY long (well, for me anyway) and I hope ya like it! :D  
**

* * *

Romeo sat at a table in the guild, quietly (which was a bit out of character for him, but with the rowdiness already increasing, no one noticed) sipping his drink, watching Natsu-nii punch Gray through yet another wall, Erza threaten them with a sword to stop destroying the guild, Mira fondly muttering, "Oh, my…" It was a normal day at the guild. But, for some reason, everything seemed…_blurry _around the edges of his vision. And everything seemed to be getting hotter…

"I'm home!" a sweet voice called from the front of the guild.

Romeo's voice snapped towards the voice, already smiling as his voice joined the chorus that sang out, "Welcome back, Wendy!"

The bluenette smiled wide at the warm welcome, her cat, Carla, held snuggly in her arms. She greeted everyone as she passed them. "Good morning, Lucy-san! Hello, Levy-san! Gajeel-san, Natsu-san, have you been fighting again? You, too, Gray-san?" Then she paused at Romeo's table. "Hello, Romeo!" she greeted, smiling a little wider.

Romeo smiled at the fact he was the only one she dared greet without "-san" added to the end. It made his heart beat a little faster. He started to get to his feet. "Hey, Wen—" His voice stopped abruptly. The blurriness increased, suddenly, to the whole of his vision, making him blink rapidly. Sweat beaded on his brow, his face flushing visibly. Vaguely he heard Wendy worriedly saying his name, asking what was wrong, but she sounded distant, like she was a whole room away. The whole roar of the guild sounded like that. "What…?" he mumbled. Then the room swayed dangerously, black spots entering his vision, and everything went black.

* * *

"Romeo!" shouted Wendy, dropping Carla and reaching her arms out to grab the fire mage before he hit his head on the table. She wasn't able to hold his weight (no, he was much heavier than her muscle-wise) but she did manage to pull him towards her instead of the table before he dragged them both down to the floor, her landing on her knees and him lying on his stomach on the floor, his head in Wendy's lap. Instantly the guild members swarmed around them, anxiously asking what was wrong, what had happened, was Wendy-chan just _that _beautiful…at the last remark, she blushed crimson, but tried to ignore them.

Instead she placed her hand against his forehead, brushing his dark hair from his face. He was burning up. She frowned before looking up at Mirajane, who crouched over him as worried as a mother. "Is there a bed in the back?" she inquired. "A couch? Anything we can lie him on?"

Mirajane thought for a moment, then snapped. "There's a couch in the Master's office!" she said.

Wendy nodded. "Okay. Let's take him there."

Instantly Macao and Wakaba swooped down, one grabbing his feet, the other grabbing him under his arms, and lifted Romeo out of Wendy's arms. They carried him back towards the Master's office, and Wendy quickly got to her feet and hurried after them, Mira and the rest of the guild close on her heels. When she got to the door, the two men had already laid him down on the plush green couch. Macao was kneeling beside the boy. "What's wrong with him, Wendy?" he asked worriedly as the girl approached.

"I think it's just a fever," Wendy replied. "Perhaps staying out in the cold too long or just allergies. I can treat him, and he'll be better before the week's up."

"A week?" Macao exclaimed. "But…I've seen you treat worse in an hour!"

Wendy flushed embarrassedly and looked down. "I…I've really trained for worse injuries…," she murmured. "For a simple cold…well, my old guild never got sick like that because of…"

Macao quickly shut his mouth, understanding. "Sorry," he apologized. "It's just he's my son…"

Wendy nodded. "I'll do my best!" she promised, smiling at the aging man.

Macao smiled back. "Thank you."

"But until then…" Wendy turned to look at the others who'd crammed themselves into the room behind her. "Everybody out!" she commanded in the strongest voice she could muster. "He needs to rest and he can't if you're all in here yelling and fighting!"

"Aw, Wendy!" whined Natsu.

"Shut it, flame-brain," snapped Gray.

"What'd you say?" And the two rolled out the door swinging at each other. Sighing, Lucy followed, Erza right behind her with another sword. One-by-one the guild members filed out, Wakaba and Macao being last. Then Wendy shut the door behind them and looked back to the couch.

Romeo had shifted from his back to his side, one hand tucked under the pillow, his legs curling up towards him. Wendy smiled a bit. He looked a lot like a little kid going to bed. Then she laughed a little, imagining his reaction if she told him this later. At her laugh, Romeo moved again, this time rolling over to face the back of the couch. He muttered something, but she couldn't make out what it was. So she quieted, afraid of waking him.

She walked back to the couch, getting on her knees beside it like Macao had done. She placed her hands above his body (it probably would have worked better if she'd touched him, but the thought of that made her blush so she kept it the way it was) and closed her eyes, focusing. When she opened her eyes again, the blue light indicating her healing magic had flickered to life on her palms, bathing Romeo in its glow. Instantly she saw a difference. His shoulders relaxed, the sweat ceased to build on his forehead. So she kept at it, focusing harder. Maybe she _could _heal him in a day…

But, an hour later, the magic had sapped her strength almost entirely. The light faded and she slumped over, feeling tired. She looked up at Romeo. He looked better. Was he healed? She reached out and tentatively pressed her hand to his forehead. He was cooler, that was for sure. But he still felt warm. Too warm for comfort. No, this would take a while.

Wendy sighed, then got to her feet and perched herself on the arm of the couch by Romeo's feet. She had made up her mind halfway through that hour. She would stay with Romeo overnight. She should probably go tell Macao that he was a little better…yeah, that would be good.

It was with that thought, leaning into the cushions of the couch, listening to Romeo's breathing, that Wendy drifted off, exhausted by using her healing magic. She never knew that she fell off the arm of the couch in her sleep, landing in the little space Romeo had left beside him, her arm unconsciously draping over the boy's side like she usually did to Carla.

That was how Macao found them about an hour later, when he came to see why he hadn't heard anything in so long. Carla had walked in behind him, seething when she saw the scene in front of her, eager to go and wake Wendy up and take her home, but Macao stopped her.

"But…!" the Exceed sputtered, having not even taken a step into the room yet.

"They're sleeping," Macao said, a strange smile on his face. "Leave them be, Carla. You can trust your Wendy, right?"

Carla snorted, crossing her arms and muttering something about trusting Wendy but not the boy, but Macao ignored her. He ushered her out of the room, looking back at the sleeping kids with that same smile. He had the fleeting image of him around that age with a pretty brunette…one with the wide, innocent eyes his son possessed. Then he stepped out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

* * *

When Romeo woke up the next morning, he had quite the miniature heart attack when he woke up to find himself nose-to-nose with Wendy Marvell. With a startled yelp, he tried to back up only to find himself falling over the side of a couch with a loud _thump__! _

Instantly the blue-haired girl's eyes opened and she sat up, looking around her wildly. "What…what…?" she stammered with a look of mild panic.

"Ow…," Romeo moaned from the floor.

Wendy's eyes widened as she peeked over the side of the couch and saw him lying there. "Romeo? What are you doing on the floor?" she asked. Then she looked at where she was sitting. "Why…Why am I on the couch?"

"I don't know!" the boy responded, sitting up on his elbows. "I just woke up and there you were!" He tried to ignore the fact his face was a bright red color that nearly matched Erza's hair.

But the color Wendy turned rivaled his. "I…I…what?" she exclaimed. She looked towards the arm of the couch then back to where she sat. "I-I must've fallen off," she mused. Then she looked back down and squeaked, jumping off the couch and kneeling down beside him. "Sorry!" she said. "I'm sorry!"

"I-It's fine," he muttered. "There's worse things to wake up to, you know." Then he quickly closed his mouth before he said anything else embarrassing. But Wendy hardly seemed to notice as she checked him over.

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Did you hit your head?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm fine."

Wendy exhaled slowly in relief. Then she suddenly slapped her hand to his forehead. He pulled back, sputtering, "H-Hey!" but she followed him, keeping her hand firmly to his forehead. Her eyebrows came together in…worry? Why was she worrying?

"You're fever's gone back up," she muttered.

"My fever?" Romeo asked. Then he looked around him. "Am I in the Master's office?"

Wendy pulled her hand back and nodded. "Yes. You fainted in the guild hall, and your father brought you back here to the couch. I was treating you and I must've fallen asleep…"

Romeo frowned. "And I still have a fever? You weren't able to fix it?"

Wendy ducked her head. "Uh…I'm not really that practiced in simple sicknesses…"

"Oh."

"I can still help, though!" Wendy added quickly. "It'll just take a bit longer."

Romeo smiled. "Thanks, Wendy!"

Wendy's cheeks reddened a bit at the thanks, and she murmured, "Y-You're welcome…" Then she looked up with a new determination in her eyes. "Get back on the couch."

Romeo blinked at her sudden commanding tone. "Huh?"

"Go lie back down," she ordered. "You need to rest. I shouldn't have startled you like that…you have to relax to help your fever go down faster." She pointed to the couch. "So go."

Romeo sat, stunned for a moment. She was serious about healing people. She took on a whole new persona from the shy, skittish girl he was used to. Then he grinned, getting to his feet. "Whatever you say, Doctor."

Wendy smiled at him, a thing that brightened up her whole face and somehow made him want to say it again if it made her smile more. But he kept his mouth shut, a little embarrassed by the thought. He'd just recently started having these random snippets of thoughts about her, stuff that made him feel embarrassed or shy, both pretty unnatural qualities for him.

Wendy moved a little closer, placing her hands, palms down, over his chest, closing her eyes and concentrating hard. Romeo got the feeling he wasn't supposed to talk (especially since this magic was aimed at him—what if something went wrong?), so he just watched her, her brows furrowing as she focused. A minute or two later, blue light emanated from her hands, the light spreading over him. It soothed him, making him feel relaxed. Before he knew it, he was asleep.

Wendy only realized he was asleep when she was exhausted of magic for the day. She started to say, "So how do you feel—" when she looked up and finally noticed the soft sound of him snoring, fast asleep. She just smiled. He looked so innocent when he slept…it was incredibly adorable.

Then she flushed scarlet. _Adorable? _Did she just think Romeo Conbolt looked _adorable_? She shook her head as if shaking the thoughts from her mind before getting to her feet and placing her hand against his forehead. It had gone down again, a little more than yesterday, but it was still there a little. Almost gone, but not quite. She frowned and straightened up. If it rose again overnight it would take much longer to get rid of the temperature completely. She should go get a cool rag or something to put on his forehead…maybe Mira had some spare cleaning rags? She glanced down at him, then decided he would be fine for ten minutes. So she stepped into the roar of the guild, dealing with the questions her friends fired at her (mostly from Macao) as she got them, weaving through them to the back to ask Mira her question.

So she wasn't there when Romeo rolled in his sleep, murmuring in his sleep audibly for the first time. "Wendy…"

* * *

Wendy smoothed the cold, damp rag across Romeo's forehead before purposely striding away from him and settling down in the cushioned chair behind the Master's desk. She wasn't letting last night's incident have a sequel. She'd rather stay right here, safe and sound (from her own unconscious actions) in the Master's chair.

Romeo tucked his arm under the pillow like the day before, mumbling something again. This time, a smile flickering onto her lips, she strained to hear what he said with her ears. But it was hopelessly muffled by the pillow. She sighed, then ventured, "What, Romeo?"

"Mhamaha…" he mumbled.

Wendy smiled a little wider. "I can't hear you," she said.

"Mmmhh…" he replied, shoving his face deeper into the pillow.

Wendy slipped from her seat, taking a few steps closer. "Hmm?"

"Mhahamm…"

A little closer. "Nope, can't hear you." She laughed a little when he got an almost-irritated expression on his face, like he was really mad she couldn't understand what he was saying, and he repeated the gibberish into the pillow again. By this point she was on her knees beside him again, asking, "So what were you saying?" The rag had fallen off his head, so as she waited for him to hopefully say something she could understand, she picked it up, gently brushed his bangs back, and placed the rag back onto his head.

Suddenly she noticed his expression had gone from angry to a mixture of sadness and longing. She frowned a little, then realized she could understand what he muttered now.

_"Mom…"_

Wendy froze where she sat. Mom? She'd always known Romeo's mom wasn't around, but she'd never dared to ask why. She was afraid of making him sad or angry at her. Now she realized that, with his mom not being around and his dad being a bit helpless (him being a dad and all), Romeo didn't really have that motherly presence to calm him when he was sad or soothe him when he was sick. That wasn't something you could get from a dad, no matter how much they loved you or you loved them. And, in his sleep, what with her being so gentle and all…

Wendy's eyes set with that same determination she had when she was healing somebody. But this time it was for a different purpose. She leaned forward a bit and whispered, "Don't worry, Romeo. I'll take care of you."

And she watched with a smile as the sadness faded from his face, replaced by a serene peacefulness.


	10. Chapter 10: Babysitting

**This one was fun to write! Hope ya like it! :D**

* * *

"Wendy!"

The said Dragon Slayer turned at the call, smiling at the green-haired woman approaching her, a small four-year-old toddling along behind her, clinging to her hand. "Bisca-san!" she greeted. "How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks for asking," the woman smiled. "I actually have a favor to ask of you, Wendy…"

"Sure! Anything I can do to help!"

Bisca's smile turned from kind to relieved. "Oh, God, thank you!"

"So what do you need me to do?" asked Wendy.

"Well…"

"Mama!" Asuka said suddenly, lifting her arms up to her mother. "Hold Asuka!"

Bisca complied, setting the toddler on her hip where the girl proceeded to try and take her mother's cowboy hat off. Leaning her head away from her, Bisca continued, "Do ya think you can handle a couple of hours watching Asuka for me? Alzack and I have been plannin' our anniversary dinner for months now but we can't find anyone with the time to watch our girl…"

Wendy's smiled tightened a bit. _Watch Asuka? _That was an awful lot of trust to put into a girl who just turned thirteen. But she'd already promised her, so Wendy nodded and said, "Sure!"

Bisca's whole face lit up. "Really? Do ya think ya can handle her for about three hours?"

_Three hours? _"No problem," Wendy lied.

"Oh, God, you are a life saver!" Bisca cried.

"Mama, Asuka's hungry!" exclaimed Asuka.

"Okay, sweetie, I'll go get'cha somethin'…I'll drop her off at your apartment around nine tonight, okay?"

"I'll be there," Wendy replied. Then she waved goodbye to the mother and child, watching them walk away with an expression that grew extremely worried. Wendy wasn't sure how to take care of a child. Carla had always been able to do things herself when Wendy had found her, so she had no experience from that, and what if she messed up something? What if she made Bisca and Alzack angry with her? What if Asuka got hurt—

"Something wrong, Wendy?"

Wendy jumped, startled out of her worries, and turned to face the boy standing behind her. Her smile instantly brightened. "Hello, Romeo!"

Romeo smiled back at her. "What's wrong?" he asked.

And Wendy instantly frowned. "Oh, it's nothing…"

Romeo rolled her his eyes. "Wendy, in case you haven't noticed, _anyone _can tell when you're upset. You might as well let someone help you."

Wendy's face flushed embarrassedly, and she ducked her head. "Oh…well, um, Bisca-san just asked me to baby sit Asuka for a little while…"

As she spoke, Romeo sat down in front of her. "I don't really see an issue here," he remarked, raising an inquisitive eyebrow at her.

Wendy's frown deepened. "I don't know how to take care of babies!" she exclaimed suddenly. "What if I get Asuka hurt and make Bisca-san and Alzack-san mad at me? What if—"

"Wendy," Romeo interrupted her, "you're great with kids! You play with Asuka all the time!" _Not to mention you used to watch me…but thinking like that makes me feel weird…_

Wendy bit her lip. "For maybe twenty minutes at a time," she countered. "And always with her parents around. Never for three hours by myself!"

"Well, where'll Carla be?"

"Her, Happy, and Lily are going to visit the Exceeds tonight," Wendy sighed. "They'll be gone until noon tomorrow."

Romeo sighed. There would be no consoling Wendy. Unless…and he smiled. "Well, how about I come by and help you?" he offered.

Wendy blinked, obviously surprised by the offer. "You? Come to…my house?"

Romeo nodded. "Sure. You'll worry yourself to death without someone to help you, and I've got nothing else to do."

Wendy had seemed to blush a bit more at the offer. But, with a smile, she said, "Thank you, Romeo! I'll see you at nine, then?"

"I'll be there," Romeo said.

Wendy smiled again. "Thank you!" And she hurried off, eager to get her house ready for Asuka…and, perhaps, Romeo.

At the table, Romeo started grinning. Three hours alone with Wendy? That sounded just fine with him.

* * *

There was a knock at the door at exactly eight-fifty-five. Wendy hurriedly jumped to the door, pulling it open. There stood Romeo with little Asuka Connell on his hip, smiling at her. Wendy almost giggled at the image. She'd never really thought of Romeo as being good with kids, but there was Asuka, smiling and laughing as she played with his scarf.

"Hey, Wendy!" he said cheerfully. "I picked up Asuka from the guild."

"Okay." She held out her hands to the little girl. "Hi, Asuka."

The toddler smiled and reached her hands out to the Dragon Slayer. "Hi, Wendy-nee!" she said as Wendy lifted her from Romeo's arms and into hers. "Can we play?"

"Of course. What do you want to play?" she asked as she stepped farther into the apartment so Romeo could come in and shut the door.

"Hide-and-seek!" Asuka said.

"Okay. Who hides?"

"Asuka and Wendy-nee!" The little girl pointed to Romeo. "Romeo-nii has to find us!"

"You bet I will," promised Romeo.

Wendy set Asuka down and she declared, "You have to count to one hundred first! And cover your eyes!"

"One hundred?" Romeo asked. He had a slight look of disbelief, like he couldn't believe she was going to make him count so high.

Asuka nodded. "Start counting!" she commanded.

And then the game had begun.

As Romeo closed his eyes and began to count, Asuka ran off to hide somewhere in the small apartment, hissing, "Hide, Wendy-nee! Hide!"

Wendy could only think of one place, though. The place she hid when it stormed or she thought someone was trying to get into her apartment (that always ended up being Levy sneaking off to find Gajeel and stumbling into her door in the dark).

The bathtub.

So, glancing at Romeo who had continued to obediently count to one hundred, she darted into the bathroom and, as quietly as she could, slipped past the shower curtain to curl up at the bottom of the tub. Then she listened to Romeo counting aloud.

"…ninety-seven…ninety-eight…ninety-nine…one hundred! Ready or not, here I come…"

She giggled softly as she listened to him roam about, probably looking in the most obvious places first. "Asuka~!" he called out in a sing-songy voice Wendy didn't know he could make. "Where are you—ack!" There was a loud crashing sound, him tripping over the leg of the coffee table.

Wendy giggled again, then pressed a hand to her mouth because that one hadn't been as quiet as the first. Romeo's mutterings of "Ow" and "Stupid table" faded, and Wendy heard him coming closer. Then it was all silent.

Too silent.

Suddenly, the shower curtain was shoved aside, and Romeo shouted, "Boo!" Wendy screamed, a sound that quickly dissolved into hysterical laughter from both kids.

"I haven't played that in forever!" Wendy said as she stepped out of the tub.

"Me, neither," Romeo said. "It's still surprisingly fun."

"I know, right?" Wendy agreed, still smiling. Then she paused. "Where's Asuka?"

Romeo shrugged. "I dunno. I found you first."

Wendy's ears twitched a bit. "But…I don't hear her…"

Romeo frowned. "Whaddya mean?"

"My ears," Wendy explained, her grin fading into a frown as she spoke. "I have advanced hearing, remember? I can't hear Asuka in the apartment…"

"Well, where else can she be?"

Wendy hurried out of the bathroom, shoving past him in an un-Wendy like way, desperate to see what she feared was true, Romeo right behind her. She ran into the middle of the living room and turned to the door. She felt her knees go a bit weak.

The door was wide open.

"Oh my gosh," Wendy breathed.

"She left the freaking apartment?" exclaimed Romeo. "How did I not hear her?"

"How did _I _not hear her?" Wendy's voice was high-pitched and most obviously panicked. "Oh…it's all coming true…"

"We have to find her," Romeo said, taking off out the door. Wendy ran after him and they tore through the halls of Fairy Hills, calling out, "Asuka? Asuka, where are you? This isn't a game anymore, please come out!"

Finally, they came to a stop at the end of one hallway, panting. "Where could she have gone?" asked Romeo incredulously. "It's not like the doorman would let her leave the building! Would he?"

"No, he's too afraid of Erza-san to let one of the Fairy Tail kids wander out with supervision," said Wendy. "So she's in the building somewhere…"

"Can you hear her?" asked Romeo hopefully.

Wendy shook her head. "With all the other girls here? No, I can't pinpoint her in all the chaos."

"Can you smell her?"

"No."

"Do you have any idea where she might be?" Romeo asked, his voice tinged with exasperation.

Wendy went quiet, pushing aside all her panicked thoughts so she could think. "Um…we've checked all the hallways…and none of the girls would've just let her into their rooms…so the only place left is…" And she snapped, her eyes brightening. "The laundry room!" And, without waiting for Romeo, she tore down the hallway.

* * *

"Pew! Pew!" Asuka said, wandering in between the large, lacrima-powered washing machines, pointing her forefinger like a gun and pretending to shoot imaginary bad guys. "Asuka will defeat you!" she declared to the ghosts. "For Mama and Daddy!"

It had been almost a half hour since she'd figured the best hiding place would be _outside _the apartment and found this place. She'd hidden in a laundry basket for a good ten minutes before her attention to the game faded and she decided she'd try a new game—her pretending to be a mage like her parents and fighting the bad guys. It was fun, because she always won.

"Pew! Pew, pew!" she muttered, pretending to fire her gun again.

It was around then that she heard Romeo and Wendy running down the hallway, calling for her. She quickly found another laundry basket full of towels and jeans and dove into it, burying herself in the fabrics. She grinned to herself as she heard them come in, certain that they would never find her here. She would win this game, too!

"Asuka!" called Romeo. "Asuka, where'd you go?"

"Are you in here?" asked Wendy.

Asuka's grin fell a bit when she realized how worried their voices sounded. Mama would be mad at her for making them worry…so she poked her head out of the clothes, resuming her grin, and asked, "Did Asuka win?"

"Asuka!" the two cried in unison, swooping down on her and fussing with her hair and clothes, asking if she was hurt. Asuka just kept shaking her head, laughing when Romeo poked her on the nose.

"You, missy, scared us half to death!" he said.

"You can't leave the apartment, Asuka!" Wendy scolded.

"Asuka is sorry," she said, still grinning. "Can we play again?"

* * *

Later, after Bisca and Alzack had picked up Asuka (and were untold of their little adventure for fear of making the couple mad), Romeo stayed a little while. He flopped down into one of the chairs, exhaling loudly. "Oh, Mavis, I've never been that scared!"

"See why I worry?" said Wendy as she closed the door, taking a seat in the chair opposite of the fire mage.

"About Asuka, yes. About every other problem in the world, no."

"I don't worry about _everything_," Wendy objected a little indignantly. "Just about…things that need worrying about."

Romeo grinned a little. "So you were worried Pantherlily was upset because his name was too feminine because that just needed worrying about?"

Wendy frowned. "Well, you worry about whether Natsu-san thinks you're too clingy!" she countered.

Romeo frowned, too, sitting up a little straighter. Then he raised an eyebrow. "Challenge accepted."

"W-What?"

"Last week you were worried about Erza eating too much strawberry cake when there's obviously no stopping _that _addiction!"

Wendy glared a little. "Yesterday you were worried you'd taken on too weak a job and people were going to think you couldn't handle tougher ones!"

"You worry about Happy saying 'Aye' too much!"

Wendy sat up straighter like Romeo. "You worry about getting your scarf dirty!"

"You worry about the guild falling down when it rains!"

"I-I…no, I don't!"

"Uh-huh. Sure."

It was about then they realized they'd leaned so close to each other while arguing that their noses were nearly touching. Instantly both their faces flushed scarlet, but neither moved away. For what seemed like the longest second in the world, they just stared at each other.

Then, quickly, Romeo touched his lips to hers. Then he fell back into the chair, his eyes locked on his feet, his face even more red than before. Wendy just, as if in a dace, brought her fingers to her lips, feeling where Romeo's had touched hers just a moment before.

That was the day they officially became a couple.

* * *

**Well? Love it? Hate it? Review, please!**


	11. Chapter 11: Promise

**I can see something like this happening. Can't you? Hope ya like it! :D**

* * *

Romeo walked through the streets of Magnolia, a small green bag slung over one shoulder and sporting a dozen various wounds despite the smile on his face. The people in the street paid no attention to the fact he limped badly in his left leg or that one of his eyes was swollen shut. They just smiled and waved hello, welcome back, to the sixteen-year-old as he hobbled down the street and to the path that led up to the guild.

He was excited, despite the aches he felt with every movement he made. He'd been gone for almost a month on this last mission he'd taken, one that had proven way more difficult than the flyer had said it would be. He should've been gone only a week or two. And he knew that the guild would be a frantic mess waiting for his return. He was excited for that reason, coming back to put their minds at ease, maybe brag a bit about how he had successfully saved the little village from the creatures plaguing it, and hopefully, if she was there, see his girlfriend, Wendy Marvell.

He had missed her a lot on this mission. With every blow he had taken, he had imagined her there chastising him for letting himself get so injured, frantically buzzing about with her healing magic flowing around him. He'd never admit it (he'd want to look strong for Natsu-nii and the others) but she was mostly he reason he'd been able to win this battle. He knew he'd have her to come home to.

Finally he limped up to the guild's main doors. Smiling still, he pushed the doors open and shouted, "I'm home!"

There was instant chaos as the guild members leaped up around him, crashing into him and asking where the heck he'd been this month. His dad was there, fussing over him nearly as much as Mira and Cana. Natsu was yelling somewhere in the crowd, demanding that he be let through so he could see his little brother…

But, to Romeo's disappointment, he couldn't hear or see Wendy anywhere.

Mirajane was dragging him over to the bar, commanding him to sit on one of the stools so she could bandage him up. He obeyed, feeling immense relief as the medicine she gave him took the edge off the pain he'd felt for a couple days now. _Still, _he thought a little glumly, _I'd feel better if Wendy were healing me._

So Romeo opened his mouth and asked, "Where's Wendy?"

Lucy glared at him and said, "You've _worried her sick_, Romeo! She's been staying in her apartment since Tuesday panicking that you're out there dying somewhere! She's supposedly going to start searching for you tomorrow if you didn't turn up."

Romeo frowned. He started to get up, but Mirajane held him back with a grip that sent chills down his spine. "Romeo, you better stay still," she warned. "I'm not done. You can go see Wendy when you've stopped bleeding all over the place."

"But…!"

"Do you wanna die?" hissed Natsu in his ear. "Shut up and do what she says!"

Romeo wanted to roll his eyes but was afraid Mira would think it was aimed at her. So he reluctantly stayed still and let Mira dab at his wounds with a rag, fretting over the fact he'd worried Wendy so badly. He hadn't meant to. He would've sent word over that it would take longer than he'd thought, but there wasn't much time when a monster was trying to eat your face off when the notion crossed your mind . . . .

"So what happened, son?" Macao asked suddenly, and then the fire mage found himself bombarded with questions again, unable to regret worrying the Dragon Slayer any longer as he struggled to answer all the guild members' questions. He'd go to Wendy later…

* * *

Wendy wiped at her eyes for the millionth time that month, sniffling as she held the little round lacrima in her hand. The flickering image inside was of a dark-haired boy coming up behind her and lifting her off her feet bridal-style while she squeaked, surprised, and demanded he put her down, but he only laughed at her. Her Romeo.

He'd been gone for a little over a month now on a request that should've taken a few days. He was so reckless on missions, always picking something that Natsu would pick despite her urging him to pick something his own style, something that wouldn't keep him away for days at a time. It wasn't much of a surprise to her he'd finally snatched up something that was way too much for him to handle. She'd always suspected that might be the end of him one day. But now she didn't even know if he was dead or alive, sick or well. And she couldn't do _anything_.

It was killing her.

The image stopped rolling, so Wendy shook the lacrima a bit and watched the scene play again. She wiped at her eyes another time and, when the scene stopped again, she finally set the lacrima down and got to her feet. She went to her bed and crouched down beside it, pulling a large beige satchel from underneath, the one that she took with her on her missions. She set it on top of the bed, undid the latch, and began piling medicine, bandages, and clothes into it.

She was not going to sit around anymore while her boyfriend could be in a potential life-or-death situation.

Wendy was going to go find him.

Suddenly there was a loud knock from the front door, startling her, but she didn't turn around. Instead she shouted over her shoulder, "Lucy-san, I know you don't think it's safe for me to go out there, but I'm not leaving him out there any—"

"Wendy! I'm home!"

In an instant Wendy had dropped the bag and flown to the door, yanking at the lock and pulling the door wide open. Tears welled in her eyes.

There he was, battered and bruised, favoring his left leg and still managing to flash her that smile that made her go weak in the knees. But, more important, he was alive.

"Hey, Wen!" he said cheerfully. "Lucy-nee told me you were at your apartment, and I just got back, so I stopped by to say hi—"

_"Romeo!" _She flung her arms around his neck, making him stumble into the wall behind him. She buried her face in his shoulders, tears streaming down her cheeks, gasping out, "You…You idiot! I-I was s-so scared y-you were d-d-dead!"

His arms wrapped around her shoulders in a comforting way. Romeo murmured, "Aw, c'mon…it takes more than a couple creepy-crawlies to knock me down."

"I-I was scared! I w-was scared!" she just kept uttering into his shoulder.

Romeo went quiet for a moment, listening to her hiccups and mutterings. Finally he whispered, "I'm so sorry I scared you." His voice held genuine regret and concern, snapping her out of her meltdown.

Wendy quickly backed away from him, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. "S-Sorry…did I hurt you?"

"Nah," Romeo said, shrugging and then wincing at the movement, and Wendy knew she most definitely had. But he just kept smiling at her. She loved that smile.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" she said fiercely, poking his chest gently with her forefinger.

Romeo smiled again and held out his hand, pinky finger extended towards her. "I promise."

Wendy smiled back for the first time that month as she wound her pinky around his. He was right.

It would take more than that to knock them down.


	12. Chapter 12: One Little Word

**Hope ya like this one! :D**

* * *

Romeo fingered her dark blue hair as, curled up in his arms, asleep, he leaned back on the couch of her apartment. Curling her hair around his finger, he smiled at the soft, rhythmic breathing, the adorable twitch of her nose as she dreamed, the feeling of her arms hugging him in her sleep.

She'd bitten off a bit more than she could chew with her last mission, something Romeo had warned her would leave her exhausted, but she'd insisted. When she'd come back a few days later, she'd fallen asleep five minutes into her welcome back celebration. That was how Romeo had wound up carrying her home, no one wanting to wake the sleeping Dragon Slayer.

It had been seven years since they'd gotten started, two since Carla had moved out to stay with Happy, three months since Romeo had bought a ring. Not that he'd actually gotten as far as to give it to her, yet. He just wanted to be ready for the right moment…

She stirred in her sleep, nestling her face farther into his warmth. Romeo smiled down at her some more. He could hardly believe this sweet, amazing girl was all his. He had always been a bit like Natsu (stubborn, easily excitable, kind of reckless) but with a more down-to-earth side, one that gave him the knowledge to know when to right and when to back down, when to press on and when to turn back. Still, that reckless side poked through often, making him almost a complete opposite of Wendy, who was shy, calm, and only lost her cool if you held a pickled plum out to her (a phobia Romeo never understood).

Why Wendy, the sweet girl, stayed with him, the mildly crazy fire mage, he never got, but he did love it. Wendy was his treasure, and he hoped he was hers.

_And to think, _he thought, chuckling as her nose twitched much like a bunny's, _it all started over that one little word…_

* * *

Romeo stared down at his mug, spinning absently on the bar stool, his thoughts wandering to everywhere _but _his current reality. Lately, after the Tenrou group's return, Romeo had been like a loyal puppy, following Natsu-nii everywhere, asking for demonstrations of his magic that his fellow guildmate was happy to give…as long as Gray could be the practice dummy.

At first, Romeo had been excited to see his idol's magic at work, even if every flame resulted in icicles being hurled in their direction. It was amazing magic, the fire erupting from Natsu-nii's body and incinerating anything he thought should be turned to ashes. But the more demonstrations Romeo got, the more he started to feel his magic was incredibly weak in comparison. The flickering purple flame that sprouted from his palm was nothing compared to the tower of fire that came from Natsu-nii's whole body.

In Romeo's eyes, he could never live up to Natsu.

He sighed, his breath making the top of his drink ripple.

"Romeo-san?"

Romeo nearly leapt out of his skin before whirling around on the stool to find himself looking into the chocolate brown eyes of Wendy Marvell. She was looking at him with concern etched into her features, hugging her pompous white cat to her chest. "Romeo-san, are you all right?" she asked.

Romeo blinked, kind of surprised. Wendy didn't usually talk to him. She was mostly with Lucy or Mirajane or Carla. But he offered her a smile he hoped held his usual cheer. "Yeah, I'm just fine," he lied. Then he paused, and added, "And you don't have to add honorifics to my name. We're the same age, and we're friends, right?"

Wendy frowned a little, then smiled. "Yeah…okay, Romeo." Then the smile fell away again. "So if we're friends, don't lie to me. What's wrong?"

Romeo was stunned. He hadn't seen her very assertive before, mostly shy and wary of complicated situations. But she stared him down in a way that said she wasn't leaving without an answer. But Romeo tried for vagueness again.

"It's really nothing," he said. "Seriously, I'm all right."

"You shouldn't keep everything hidden," Carla piped up for the first time. "It will just build up until it bursts."

"If you're worried about me telling someone," Wendy put in, "you don't need to worry about it. If you don't want people to know, I won't tell." And she smiled as if to assure him she wasn't lying, even though he had already deemed her incapable of speaking falsely.

Still, Romeo just smiled a bit wider and insisted, "Wendy, don't worry about me. I'm fine, okay?"

Wendy's smile fell to a frown again, but this time she nodded and started off towards where Lucy was sitting with Levy. As he watched her walk away, Romeo suddenly blurted, "Hey, Wendy?"

The blunette stopped and turned back towards him. "Hmm?"

Romeo sat there, opening and closing his mouth soundlessly for a minute, not sure why he'd called her back. Then, hesitantly, he asked, "Do…do you ever think I'll be as good a mage as Natsu-nii?"

Romeo waited for her to laugh at him for worrying over something so small, or just shrug and give him a fortune cookie answer like Mira or Erza probably would. But she did neither. Instead she just smiled and said one word:

"Yes."

Then she turned her back to him and continued on her way to Lucy's table.

Romeo stared after her for a minute, surprised at the certainty he'd heard in her voice. Slowly, the stunned look faded, replaced by a smile. Then a grin. And, before he knew it, the insecurity he'd just held had vanished.

Someone believed in him. That was enough.

* * *

_Yes._

One word.

One little word.

That was all it took for his crush on Wendy Marvell to start, the first seed of a relationship that he never expected in a million years would be the best thing to ever happen to him.

Now, his little Dragon Slayer fast asleep in his lap, Romeo released her hair and fingered the little box in his pocket.

Maybe when she woke up…


	13. Chapter 13: Jealousy

**Wendy had her jealous moment, so I figured it was Romeo's turn now. Hope ya like it! :D**

* * *

The day the Trimens came to visit was the day Romeo thought would never end.

For one, they were annoying, no matter how helpful they'd been in those long seven years.

Two, their good looks made Romeo feel pathetic in comparison.

And three, the one that made his blood boil…that little Eve just couldn't keep his hands off his Wendy.

Romeo had to admit, it was rather cute when she blushed so embarrassedly, but that hardly mattered when Romeo wasn't the one making her do so. But he couldn't just start a fight with their guests. That would start even more chaos than was already going on. So, gritting his teeth, Romeo sat at the bar, trying to ignore the sounds of Eve making conversation with the blue-haired dragon slayer.

Not that he was succeeding, of course.

"So, Wendy-chan, how has your week been?"

"U-Um, fine, I-I guess," Wendy stuttered.

"So cute," Eve breathed. "You, miss, are so adorably shy!"

Romeo made a face, silently mimicking the youngest Trimens member.

"I-I-I have a b-boyfriend," stammered Wendy.

"True love divided!" exclaimed Eve despairingly.

"U-Um…"

Romeo's eye twitched. _True love? _Tch. In Eve's dreams.

"Who is the man who has come between us?" demanded Eve. "I will challenge his worthiness of your beauty!"

"N-No…!"

"Okay." Romeo turned around on the barstool as Eve's and Wendy's faces turned towards him. "Challenge accepted, playboy."

Eve's eyes narrowed. "Ah, little Romeo-kun…"

Romeo stiffened. _Little? _He was seventeen, for God's sake! Why did everyone keep calling him little? "Keep talking. Let's see how far that foot of yours can go in your big mouth."

"Romeo," Wendy said. Her eyes darted anxiously between the two. "W-Why don't we go look for jobs?" she tried to stop the conflict. The two just continued to glare viciously at the other until Wendy finally got up, took Romeo by the arm, and dragged him towards the request board. "Don't fight with them, Romeo," she scolded gently as she pulled him along.

"_He _challenged _me_!" protested the fire mage. "And he kept flirting with you and—"

"Romeo," Wendy interrupted suddenly. "Were you…_jealous _of Eve-san?"

Romeo made a face. "N-No! Of course not. I mean—" He was interrupted by Wendy's laughter. He scowled irritably at his feet. "He's just really annoying," he mumbled.

"Aw, I'm sorry for laughing," Wendy finally said, winding her arm through his. "If it helps," she whispered, "I find him annoying, too." Then she kissed him on the cheek before going on, "So what mission should we choose? I didn't want to pick a real hard one, because I wanted to be back before tomorrow since all the girls are having a girls' night out…"

Romeo just nodded, a smile on his face, the place where she'd kissed him feeling warm and tingly. And, just because he felt like it, he looked over his shoulder and smirked triumphantly at Eve, who had a scowl on his face after watching them.

Wendy was his, and no silly playboy was taking her away from him now.


	14. Chapter 14: Snowball Fight

**I'm so sorry I haven't uploaded a new chapter! And I know this one kinda sucks, too...but I promise I'll make a really long, really good one next time! It's just that starting high school been hectic...gomenasai! But I hope ya like this one anyway.**

* * *

Romeo was innocent.

For once, _Wendy_ had started it.

No one really believed him, but they both knew it was true. And that was why they laughed so hard at the disbelieving expressions on the guild members' faces as they dripped snow onto the floor.

All Romeo had done was walk up towards the guild. Then the suddenly-demented Dragon Slayer had come popping up out of the bushes chucking snowballs at his head, using the wind to help her hit her target every time. After a few curses and useless dodging, Romeo did the natural thing—he retaliated. He dove into the other row of bushes, made a few sloppy snowballs, and started throwing them back at his girlfriend.

That was when the trouble started.

Or, really, that was when other people started coming up the pathway to the guild and accidentally got themselves caught in the middle of the vicious battle. Of course, being Fairy Tail members, they all dove right in, picking a side and building snowballs.

But all that ended when Evergreen got a snowball in the face from Natsu. Then they dragged his statue into the guild with Ever shouting about carelessness and ruining her makeup. So ended their snowball fight.

But, even as the couple got an earful from the female Rajinshuu member, they couldn't help but share a grin.

It was an unspoken challenge:

_Next year, you're on._


	15. Chapter 15: Wedding Jitters

**Yay! A wedding! Yeah, I know this isn't the super long one I promised, but I'm working on it! I hope ya like this one, though!**

* * *

The past few weeks had been much of a blur to Wendy. It had all been a flurry of sampling cakes, trying on dresses, getting her hair done, listening to the excited squeals of the other girls…

In those weeks, Wendy had felt like this day could never come quick enough. But now, standing in front of the wall mirror, twirling her lacy white skirts, Wendy felt nothing but an insane amount of butterflies in her stomach. Suddenly, she wished for those days to come back, when a day of such commitment was long away and that thought could ease her raging nerves.

But, through all those nerves, she knew that this was absolutely what she wanted. So why did she feel like she wouldn't have the strength to walk out of this room, much less down the aisle?

Wendy heard the doorknob turn before she saw the door open in the mirror. She turned, skirts spinning and blue hair bouncing as she faced the white-haired barmaid stepping into the room. Mirajane, one of her bridesmaids, was dressed in a lovely shade of lilac, a color that was just a couple shades lighter than Wendy's fiancée's hair. Wendy had picked it just for him. But now the color sent yet another nervous butterfly into her stomach, reminding her again how huge today was going to be for her.

Mirajane smiled at Wendy. "Hey, Miss future Romeo Conbolt," she said. "How ya feeling?"

Wendy offered her a small smile. "Ah, you know…like a bride."

"Good." She watched Wendy's expression for a minute. "You're not nervous or anything?"

"N-No!" Wendy said quickly before wincing at the horribly told lie.

Mirajane's smile softened from pure excitement to sympathy. In a motherly tone that made Wendy's tension ease just ever so slightly, Mirajane settled onto the footstool and said, "Come sit with me for a minute. Okay?"

Wendy nodded with a slight, weary sigh before perching herself on the available space left on the footstool. Mira patted her knee and said, "Now, why are you nervous?"

"I…" Wendy shook her head a little. "I honestly don't know…I guess because it's such a big commitment…"

"Ah." Mira's hand moved from Wendy's knee, and she wrapped her arms around her shoulders. "Let me tell you a secret, okay?"

"All right."

"Do you remember," Mirajane began, "when I got married to Freed?"

Wendy nodded. "Asuka dumped the basketful of petals on her head instead of on the aisle," she said with a little smile. "And you made Freed braid his hair so he'd look nice. His hair was curly for weeks!"

Mira giggled. "I thought it was cute! But, anyway, no one knows it, but…I was all nervous, too."

Wendy gaped. "Really? But you two are made for each other!"

Mirajane nodded. "Yeah…but every bride gets those pre-wedding jitters. Where you feel doubtful."

Wendy lowered her eyes down to her hands. "I really do want to marry him, Mira…but I can't stop that feeling—"

"Do you love him?"

"Yes." There was no doubt in the blunette's voice then. No matter her nerves, she knew that she loved him with all her heart.

Mirajane smiled at the certainity of her response. "Then there's your answer, Wendy." She stood up, her smile turning into a mischievous grin. "Now, go get your Romeo!"

* * *

"And do you, Wendy Marvell, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

Wendy's smile was brilliant as she uttered without a single doubt or nerve:

"I do."

Romeo's boyish grin that blew Natsu's out of the water appeared, a grin that always took her breath away. The Master never even finished saying the word "kiss" before his lips were on hers, and the world just seemed to melt away except for the two of them.

When they finally returned to reality, where the guild members were cat-calling and cheering as loudly as possible, Wendy caught Mirajane's eyes as the white-haired woman clung to the arm of her husband. There was a knowing smile on the woman's face.

Wendy mouthed to her, _Thank you_, as she walked back down the aisle on the arm of her husband, feeling happier than she'd ever been before.

Wendy had got her Romeo.


	16. Chapter 16: Big News

**I'm sort of going into this area now...maybe a few more chapters on the kid and how they raise he/she? Or...them? ;) Hope ya like it!**

* * *

Whereas Wendy got the excited squeals, hugs, and congratulations, Romeo took the brunt of the big news they'd just announced to the guild from her "brothers".

"She's _pregnant_?" roared Gajeel at him.

"You said you'd keep her safe," accused Natsu.

Romeo held up his hands in a sign of surrender (and also, in case one of them decided to jump, him he'd at least have a little protection). "Well…look at her!" he tried. "_She's _obviously happy!"

"She's a girl!" countered Gajeel. "Of course she's happy."

"Just wait," Natsu threatened. "In a few months she'll be sad, happy, angry, and _really hungry _all at the same time."

"Now that's punishment enough," snorted Gajeel.

After a small moment of silence, Natsu sighed and shook his head a little. "Wendy's pregnant," he muttered in disbelief. "And with Romeo…"

"You say it like it's a bad thing!"

Their glares told Romeo they thought it so at the moment.

Suddenly, as if noticing his look of fear-slash-desperation, Wendy swooped in with her cheery smile and sweet, still childlike voice, wrapping an arm around each of the other Dragon Slayers' shoulders. "Did you hear?" she beamed. She took their scowls as a yes and continued, "I'm so excited! I've always wanted a little child of my own!" She turned her brilliant smile on Romeo. "Aren't you happy, soon-to-be dad?"

Romeo grinned back at her. "Of course I am."

Her smile widened, her eyes shining and full of love. Then she turned to her still-frowning brotherly members. "C'mon, Mira said she's going to make a cake to celebrate!"

Natsu instantly perked up and ran off to try and convince Mirajane he could light the candles without setting the cake on fire again, while Gajeel just muttered an unenthusiastic "Woo-hoo," before setting off to find Levy and make sure her stomach was still of normal size. As soon as they were gone, Wendy stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Romeo's waist.

As he hugged her back, she whispered, "Don't worry, they'll be fine once they see our baby."

Romeo snorted. "They'll be praying it's a Dragon Slayer," he said, although he grinned.

"Or a fire mage," she added.

"Which is recessive?"

"How should I know?" Then she giggled. "What if he has your father's way with girls?"

"What if _she _decides to destroy a town on every mission like some of her nakama?"

They both smiled.

"Either way, it'll be the best Fairy Tail member ever," whispered Wendy.

"Of course." Romeo grinned toothily. "It'll be our kid."


	17. Chapter 17: Mood Swings

**Ta-daaa~! Hope ya like it! (And if I've completely messed up the effects of pregnancy, someone tell me, because I honestly have no idea how that goes).**

* * *

Romeo first realized he was in deep trouble when Wendy—his petite, small-bite-taking, delicate Wendy—ate three servings of everything they had for dinner within fifteen minutes.

The second moment was when she caught him gaping at her incredulously as she came back to the table. Her eyes took on a wide, panicked look as she set down her plate and gave herself a once-over. "What?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

"N-No!" he said quickly (because they'd already started the unreasonable fits of sobbing). "I…I've just never seen you eat so much—"

Her panic flipped to fury as if a switch had been flipped in her head. Hands placed on her hips, she demanded angrily, "So you think I'm fat now, huh?"

"No, of course not!" But his eyes automatically moved to where her belly was beginning to swell quite largely.

She followed his gaze, then snorted indignantly. "Well, then!" she said, obviously offended as she turned on her heel and stomped out of the room. Romeo started to get up to follow her, but, before he could, she came hurrying back in and grabbed her plate, biting out quickly "I'll finish this in the living room!" before scurrying back out of the room.

Romeo stared after her for a minute, then sighed and took a swig of his water. Somehow, he knew that by the end of this he might finally take up on Cana's offer for a drink.

* * *

When Romeo walked into the house the next day, he was met by the sound of someone crying. He hurriedly dropped his bag on the welcome mat and ran up the stairs, throwing open the door to his and Wendy's room, where he saw her with her head in her hands at the foot of the bed. Instantly he was crouching in front of her, one hand on her knee, the other gently pushing hair out of her face. "Wen," he said softly, "what's wrong?"

She raised her head from her hands, eyes red and puffy. "I…I just realized…" she sniffled.

"What? Realized what?"

Suddenly she wailed, "Our baby's going to be tormented at school," before plopping her head back in her hands.

Romeo's gaze shifted from worry to confusion. "…Huh?"

"Our hair!" Wendy cried. "I have blue hair! You have purple! Imagine what kind of hair color he's going to have! He'll be picked on all the time because of it and it'll be our fault…"

Romeo nearly fell over. "_That's _what you're upset about?" he asked incredulously. "Honey, he's—or she's—not even born yet! It could have perfectly normal hair."

"How?!"

Romeo sighed as she continued to sob, not sure how to stop her now. So he just perched himself on the bed beside and held her, wondering how much he'd have to deal with mood swings.

* * *

"Ah, do you remember this one?" Wendy pointed to one picture in the book. It was of the two of them around fifteen, grinning and holding hands under the rainbow sakura trees.

Romeo smiled and said, "Of course! We went back to the guild and had petals all stuck in our hair."

"Natsu said it looked like a rainbow threw up on us," laughed Wendy.

Romeo pointed to the one below it, where a twenty-year-old Wendy was grinning in an elaborate white dress, Romeo's arm slung across her shoulder as he straightened his tuxedo jacket. "Wedding day," he said simply, and Wendy wrapped her hand around his lovingly before laying her head on his shoulder. After a moment, Romeo let go of his end of the book and laid his hand on Wendy's swollen stomach.

"I can't wait to meet him," Wendy said softly. "Our baby."

"Or her," he reminded her, and she squeezed his hand before agreeing, "Or her."

They sat in a companionable silence for a while, staring down at the pictures of them laughing, kissing, stepping into the carriage to take them away on their honeymoon…

Finally they reached the end of the pictures, where many pages were blank. Wendy lifted her head from Romeo's shoulder to flash her sweet smile at him. "You better take some good pictures," she told him. "I want a lot."

"Me too," he said. Then, after a minute, he said, "It'll be coming into a good place, don't you think?"

"Of course," Wendy said.

"Let's just hope the mood swings will be done by then," he joked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" said Wendy, suddenly indignant.

"N-Nothing, just—"

"Hmph!" Wendy shut the scrapbook and took it with her as she stomped out of the room. Romeo sighed for what felt like the millionth time in these past few months and slumped into the couch.

_Mavis,_ did he hope those mood swings would go away.


	18. Chapter 18: Ultrasound

**MWAHAHAHA! How should we tortue Romeo? Two girls? Two boys? One of each? Review, please!**

* * *

"Hey, Romeo?"

"Hmm?"

"You remember I went got the ultrasound today, right?"

"Oh, yeah. How'd it go? Everything all right?"

"Yup. Everything's…_amazing. _Brilliant. Fine-and-dandy."

"…ooookay…what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"I have never heard you use the words 'fine-and-dandy' so what did they give you at that place?"

"Romeo, they didn't drug me or anything. I'm just fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Positive?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Alright. Well, I'm glad everything's fine."

"Me too." And, as she walked out of the kitchen, she said, "Oh, and they said we're having twins."

Romeo spewed his coffee all across the table.


	19. Chapter 19: Having Twins

**I wasn't sure how to do this...so i did a short little thing to announce that, well, they're coming and it's gonna be a boy and girl. What should we name 'em? :D Hope ya like it!**

* * *

The sound of a plate shattering was the sound that jarred Romeo awake and sent him racing for the kitchen, sliding on the floor in his socks and ramming into walls. As he skidded into the room, he shouted, "What's wrong? What's happening?"

Wendy stood utterly still, one hand on her bulging belly, her eyes locked onto something in the distance. Then, slowly, she turned to Romeo with tears welling in her eyes, a smile beginning to grow. "Romeo…I-I think it's time."

Romeo looked confusedly at her. "Time? Time for what?"

She laughed. "What we've been waiting nine months for!"

And Romeo flipped. "The babies are coming?" he yelped. He scrambled to Wendy's side. "Are you all right? How do you feel? Are you having contractions yet?"

"Yes," she replied simply. "Help me to the hospital now, idiot."

"Oh! Yeah!" He ushered Wendy out of the kitchen and into the hall before he had to stop and ask, "Wait, do we need anything?"

"Romeo, I honestly don't care if we do. Just get me to the hospital."

"Oh. Sure."

As they walked out the door, Romeo couldn't help but scream to the world, "We're having twins!"


	20. Chapter 20: Welcome Home

**I know you guys probably hate me and all for making you wait so long, but, hey! Cut me some slack! School and gots a wittle cold...sorry for all the late uploads though! Hope you guys like this chapter! And thanks to all the people who sent me names for the kids! Oh, one last thing- I know the girl's name is the same as Wendy's enemy from an earlier chapter but...well, her name means the ocean! I couldn't resist. :D**

* * *

"Mai and Haru, huh?" Makarov muttered thoughtfully, looking down at the two sleeping children in his arms. "What do they mean?"

"Mai means the ocean," Romeo said, his fingers interlaced with his wife's as she lay sleeping in her bed, exhausted from the hours of birth. "Haru is springtime."

The master mulled over the names for a minute, nodding. "Pretty," he remarked after a while.

"Thanks." Romeo smiled, happily, though you could easily see his own feelings of exhaustion coming in. "They were both Wendy's idea."

Makarov nodded again, then looked up from the two children to look at Romeo. "You're very lucky," he said, smiling. "I can tell they'll both be great additions to the guild. And I may be getting old, but I hope I'm around to see if they are just as destructive as their friends."

Romeo's smile got wider and, after a second, he leaned in and took the twins from the old man's arms. The master slid from his chair and, gripping his new cane, hobbled out the door. Romeo stood there for a minute, just feeling the weight of his kids—_his kids!_—in his arms. They'd been here for only a few hours, but he already loved them so much, he thought it nearly impossible. The little girl…he could already almost see the tufts of indigo hair coming, exactly like her mother's. But the nose and the mouth was his. And little Haru…even as a baby, he emanated a gentle aura, one he had to have gotten from his mom, although the facial features looked a lot like Romeo. _A mini-me, _he thought absently, his pinky caught in the baby boy's loose grip.

Suddenly, a sleepy voice said, "Romeo?"

Romeo looked down at the bed and into Wendy's warm brown eyes. He grinned. "Hey, sleepyhead," he said softly.

Wendy smiled and wordlessly held out her arms. Romeo complied to her unspoken want, and gently deposited Haru into her arms while he continued to cradle Mai. The baby boy opened his eyes a little bit as he moved from Romeo to Wendy, looking with chocolate-colored eyes at his mother. Not looking up from the child, Wendy whispered, awe-struck, "Romeo, we're parents, now."

Romeo shook his head a little in disbelief. "Mavis, I know! And they're so beautiful…"

"Are we ready?" Wendy asked suddenly, and they both looked over at each other. For a minute, they just sat quietly and stared at the other.

Then Romeo smiled. "Yes." Then a chuckled a bit. "The question is," he muttered, "will the guild be ready for more kids?"

Wendy laughed. "Remember how they were when we were there? Drinking all the time, throwing each other through walls…"

"Losing their clothes," muttered Romeo wryly.

Wendy looked back down at Haru. "Let's hope they don't fit in _too _well, eh?"

Romeo stared down his baby girl's face as the child blearily opened her eyes into her father's face. After a minute, Romeo opened his mouth, his words now directed to the little girl and boy:

_"Welcome to Fairy Tail. Welcome home."_


End file.
